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Posted On: 10/18/2004

Spa company elevates drivers

By Damian Leal

Watkins Manufacturing, a Masco Corporation company, is the world’s leading manufacturer of premium portable spas. Sold under the Hot Spring name, we have been the market leader since 1977. Watkins also produces Hot Spot, Tiger River and Solana spas. The Hot Spring spas are the only three-time recipient of the spa industry’s prestigious John Holcomb Silver Award for technological innovation.

Our facility works on an as-ordered basis, so every spa produced will be immediately shipped to a distributor. Approximately 85 percent of the production items are stored in a racking system while others are stored on the floor. The racks house more than 700 parts ranging from small electrical resistors to complete pump/motor assemblies.

We produce several hundred spas per day so you can imagine the logistics. All the components needed for the following day’s production are pulled and delivered to the production lines during the evening shift. Production line workers arrive in the morning to a complete inventory.

Narrow aisles
Maximizing space utilization in our new manufacturing facility has allowed us to store more raw materials for the production lines and reach new production and efficiency goals. The key element is the production warehouse, a very narrow-aisle racking system that maximizes the use of the storage cube, but challenged us to create an efficient storage and retrieval system.

We worked with Quality Lift Trucks in San Diego to specify the type of truck needed for our operation. We opted for a man-up order-picking/stacking forklift that allows our operators to ride along with the forks to accurately store pallet loads and easily fill production orders. The ETX-Kombi AC truck, supplied by Jungheinrich Lift Truck Corp. (www.jungheinrich.com), minimizes the space needed for forklift traffic.

Heads up

A very narrow-aisle racking system maximized use space, but challenged us to create an efficient storage and retrieval system.


The truck’s man-up feature was specified for two reasons: safety and efficiency. Allowing the operator to ride up with the forks guarantees that loads are stored and retrieved properly -- with narrow aisles there isn’t much room for mistakes.

Tightened headcount
We also use the trucks to facilitate our daily cycle counts. Every night, operators physically count each item in the warehouse. Without the man-up feature, each forklift operator would have to pull the parts from storage, count them, and re-store them. With the man-up trucks, the operator simply elevates himself to the desired level and counts the parts. I am happy to say that we are operating at a 98% accuracy rate on our daily cycle counts.

The driver’s cab provides unobstructed views of the forks, load and aisle way. The rotating mast allows loads to be picked up and retrieved from either side of the storage aisle, and end positions during side shifting and rotation of the forks are approached at crawl speeds to protect the load. For quicker storage and retrieval, side shifting and rotation can be accomplished simultaneously.

The trucks handle loads up to 3,300 pounds, reach travel speeds up to 6.5 mph with load and lift speeds of 82 ft/min. They are 61 inches wide and available with either a two-stage or three-stage mast. The maximum lift height for the two-stage mast is 393 inches and for the three-stage mast is 492 inches. A maximum turning radius of 98.3 inches gives good maneuverability.

The ability of the trucks to pick up and store pallets or crated parts from either side of the truck gave us the flexibility to design the narrow aisle system, which results in better use of the overall storage cube and allows us to use forklift operators more efficiently. Before the move, we had 20 people supporting our group. We now use 11 and have redeployed the others to the replacement parts warehouse.|

Damian Leal, warehouse manager, Watkins Manufacturing, Vista, Calif., may be reached at damian.leal@watkinsmfg.com.